The present invention relates to an IC card processor, and in particular, to an IC card processor having a contact block provided with a plurality of contacts on one surface side and allowing each contact of the contact block to contact each contact point of one surface side of an IC card received to a predetermined position so as to perform the giving/receiving of signals to/from the IC card, which adopts a technology that prevents damage of the contact due to insertion of an illegal card-like foreign matter.
Further, the present invention relates to an IC card processor, and in particular to an IC card processor allowing each contact to contact each contact point of one surface side of an IC card received to a predetermined position so as to perform the giving/receiving of signals to/from the IC card, which adopts a technology that can easily eliminate a short card-like foreign matter existing inside.
Conventionally, an IC card processor performing read/write of information for an IC card has been constituted in such a manner that contacts are respectively brought into contact with a plurality of contact points provided on one surface side of the IC card received to a predetermined position and communications have been made with a circuit inside the IC card by electrical connection between each contact point and the contact.
Such an IC card processor does not make the contact deformed by being pushed by the top end of the IC card to be inserted, and in order to make a life of the contact longer, it allows the contact to relatively move on one surface side of the IC card after the top end of the IC card passes through the position of the contact and allows the contact to be brought into contact with each contact point of the IC card.
Here, for example, when the contact side is moved to the IC card side, as shown in FIG. 33A, a contact block 212 provided with a plurality of contacts 211 on one surface side is fixedly supported on one end side of a movable member 213 of a rotatable type, and the other end side of the movable member 213 is pushed down by the inserting force of an IC card 201, and as shown in FIG. 33B, the contact block 212 at one end side is moved to one surface side of the IC card 201 so that the contact 211 is brought into contact with a contact point (not shown) of the IC card 201.
Incidentally, each contact 211 is elastically deformed so as to apply an adequate contact pressure to the contact point.
However, in a structure where each contact 211 of the contact block 212 fixedly supported on one end side of the movable member 213 is brought into contact with the IC card 201 in this way, when an IC card 201xe2x80x2 having a warp is inserted as shown in FIG. 33C, the contact pressure of the contact 211 to each contact point of the IC card 201xe2x80x2 becomes uneven and the like, and when the warp is larger, a part of the contact 211 sometimes does not contact the contact point.
In order to solve this problem, the present international patent applicant has proposed an IC card processor wherein the attitude of the contact block changes according to the warp of the IC card 201 by swingingly supporting the contact block 212 as shown in FIG. 34A in the previous International application No. PCT/JP98/00035 (International publication No. WO 99/35609).
By swingingly supporting the contact block 212 in this way, even when the IC card having a warp is inserted, the contact block 212 inclines by itself according to the warp and each contact 211 can be brought into contact with each contact point on the IC card by a substantially uniform contact pressure.
However, even in the IC card processor which swingingly supports the contact block 212 as described above, for example, when a regular IC card 201 is inserted, while a card-like foreign matter 202 having a length shorter than a regular length is inserted into the inside and remains there in a descending state as shown in FIG. 34B, the top end of the IC card 201 inserted thereafter abuts against the contact 211 of the contact block 212.
At this time, the contact block 212 is pushed to one end side of the movable member 213 and is unable to move upward, and the inserting force of the IC card 201 is directly applied on the contact 211 so that the contact 211 is sometimes damaged.
In order to solve this problem, it is considered to increase the strength (rigidity) of the contact 211. However, when the strength of the contact 211 is simply increased in this way, an elastic deformation amount is decreased, and an attitude adjustment range by the elastic deformation of the contact 211 is narrowed so as not to be able to deal with the warp of the IC card.
Further, in the previous International application No. PCT/JP98/00035 (International publication No. WO 99/35609), there has been disclosed a modified example, wherein the space between the movable member 213 and the contact block 212 is connected via a reverse V-shaped plate spring 218, and both ends of the plate spring 218 are allowed to slide on the upper surface of the contact block 211 so as to slidably support the contact black 211.
That is, in this modified example, it is considered to utilize the elastic deformation of the plate spring 218 so as to allow the contact block 212 to escape upward with respect to the IC card inserted which is in a state of the foreign matter 202 being inserted.
However, in order to apply an adequate contact pressure to the contact point of the regular IC card 201 usually by supporting the contact block 212 by the reverse V-shaped plate spring 218 in this way, and to allow the contact block 212 to escape from the IC card 201 inserted in a state of the foreign matter being present in the inner part, it is necessary to increase the elastic deformation amount of the plate spring 218.
In order to increase the elastic deformation amount of this plate spring 218, it is necessary to lengthen two sides of the plate spring 218, which ends up in moving a supporting point of the swinging away from the contact block 212.
For this reason, when the IC card 201 having a large warp is inserted, a dislocation between the contact point of the IC card 201 and the contact is increased and the contact relation between both of them becomes unstable so that the giving/receiving of the information can not be reliably performed.
Further, since a uniform load is not applied on each terminal of the contact point group, there arises a trouble that each terminal is one-sidedly worn.
On the other hand, such an IC card processor is often used in the equipment such a public telephone used by an unspecified person, and frequently suffers damage from mischief such as insertion of a foreign matter.
For this reason, the conventional IC card processor has the under surface side of the portion where the IC card is inserted largely opened so as to discharge and drop the inserted foreign matter downward.
FIGS. 36 to 40 show a schematic structure of a conventional IC card processor 5, which is constituted to discharge and drop the inserted foreign matter.
This IC card processor 5 receives the IC card inserted from a slit 7 which is laterally provided on the front surface side of a card slot 6 at the under surface side of a rectangular substrate 9 of a processor main body 8.
Here, at both sides of the under surface of the substrate 9, a pair of regulating portions 10, 11 to regulate a lateral movement of the inserted IC card from both sides are formed in such a manner as to continue from the front end to the vicinity of the rear end of the substrate 9.
At the lower edge of the one regulating portion 10, a rail portion 12, which supports the one lateral edge portion of the IC card and regulates the downward movement, is formed.
Further, a supporting portion 13 for supporting the top end edge of the IC card from the lower part is provided between the rear ends of a pair of the regulating portions 10, 11.
Further, at the inner side of the supporting portion 13, a stopper 14 that stops the IC card at a predetermined position is provided by abutting against the top end of the IC card.
Further, in the front of the stopper 14, a contact block 16 having a plurality of contacts 15 at the under surface for bringing them into contact with a plurality of terminals on one surface side of the IC card received to a predetermined position is vertically movably supported (supporting mechanism is not shown).
Further, one end side of a detection member 17 for detecting the insertion of the IC card is projected between the stopper 14 and the contact block 16.
This detection member 17 receives the inserting force of the IC card at one end side and allows the other end side to move so as to allow the contact block 16 to descend on one end side of the IC card to bring the contact 15 into contact with the terminal of the IC card, thereby making it possible to give/receive information for the IC card (supporting mechanism is not shown).
In the IC card processor 5 constituted in this way, when the regular IC card 1 is inserted from the slit 7 of the card slot 6, the lateral movement of the IC card 1 is regulated by a pair of regulating portions 10, 11, and the one lateral edge portion of the IC card 1 is guided to the inner side, while being supported by the rail portion 12 from the lower part, and as shown in FIG. 41A, the top end of the IC card 1 which reached the supporting portion 13 is abutted against one end of the detection member 17.
When the IC card 1 is further pushed, as shown in FIG. 41B, the detection member 17 turns so as to allow the contact block 16 to descend, and when the top end of the IC card 1 reaches a predetermined position to abut against the stopper 14, each contact 15 of the contact block 16 contacts each terminal (not shown) provided on one surface side of the IC card 1 by adequate contact pressure.
In this way, it is possible to deal with the information for the IC card 1.
Further, this IC card processor 5 regulates its lateral movement and its downward movement at the one lateral side of the IC card, and guides the lateral movement only to a predetermined position in a regulated state at the other side, so that the foreign matter which passed through the slip 7 of the card slot 6 can be discharged from the underside surface side.
For example, as shown in FIG. 42A, in the case where the card-like foreign matter 2 having a width same as that of the regular IC card and a length shorter than the distance from the slip 6 to the front edge of the supporting portion 13 is inserted, when the rear end of this foreign matter 2 passes through the front end of the substrate 9, the edge portion of the regulating portion 10 side of the foreign matter 2 is supported from the lower part, while there is no support from the lower part for the other edge portion side.
For this reason, this foreign matter 2 has the other edge portion side descended and inclined, and by this inclination, one edge portion side slips off the rail portion 12 as shown in FIG. 43.
For this reason, this foreign matter 2 is dropped and discharged downward from the substrate 9 as shown in FIG. 42B.
However, in the above-described IC card processor 5, as shown in FIG. 44A, when the regular IC card 1 is inserted in a state where the rear end of the card-like foreign matter 2 is inserted into a position slightly going beyond the slit 7, the foreign matter 2 advances into the inner side by being pushed at its rear end by the IC card 1.
At this time, when inserting speed of the IC card 1 is low, the foreign matter 2 slips off the rail portion 12 so as to be dropped and discharged as described above before its top end reaches the supporting portion 13 so that the IC card 1 can be inserted to a predetermined position.
However, when the inserting speed of the IC card 1 is high, the one edge portion of the foreign matter 2 reaches the supporting portion 13 before its top end slips off the rail portion 12 so that it moves the detection member 17 and advances to a position which abuts against the stopper 14.
For this reason, as shown in FIG. 44B, the detection member 17 allows the contact block 16 to descend on this foreign matter 2 so as to bring the contact 15 into contact with it.
When the IC card 1 is forcibly inserted in a state where the contact 15 is brought into contact with the foreign matter 2 in this way, the top end of the IC card 1 passes between the foreign matter 2 and the substrate 9 and collides with the contact 15, thereby damaging the contact 15, so that the equipment cannot be used hereinafter.
Further, as shown in FIG. 44C, when the IC card 1 is forcibly inserted in a state where the contact 15 is brought into contact with the foreign matter 2 in this way, when the top end of the IC card 1 collides with the rear end of the foreign matter 2, the IC card 1 is unable to advance further and the equipment cannot be used hereinafter.
Further, the foreign matter that advanced to the position abutting against the stopper 14 in this way cannot be extracted nor dropped and discharged, and hereinafter, the equipment cannot be used by the IC card 1.
Furthermore, since the card processor used in the equipment utilized by an unspecified person as described above is fixed at the inner side of a casing of the equipment including a card stopper 6, an extremely complicated work is required for a service man to open the casing of the equipment and take out the foreign matter from the card processor in order to utilize the equipment.
An object of the present invention has been carried out in view of the points at issue and it is the object of the present invention to provide an IC card processor wherein there is no damage of a contact due to double insertion of a card-like foreign matter and an IC card, and even when a card having a large warp is inserted, it can be correctly brought into contact with a terminal of the IC card with uniform contact-pressure.
Another object of the present invention has been carried out in view of the points at issue and it is the object of the present invention to provide the IC card processor wherein the damage of the contact due to double insertion of the card-like foreign matter and the IC card can be prevented.
Still another object of the present invention has been carried out in view of the points at issue and it is the object of the present invention to provide the IC card processor wherein the card-like foreign matter existing in the inner side can be easily removed.
In order to achieve the objects, according to the present invention, there is provided
(1) an IC card processor comprising:
a card slot (21) defining a space in which the IC card is received;
a contact block (70) having a plurality of contacts (80) on one surface which respectively contact a plurality of contact points provided on one surface of the IC card received inside the card slot;
a supporting mechanism (71-78, 85-93) which supports movably the above contact block in a vertical direction to the above one surface of the IC card received in the card slot, swingingly around a first axis line which passes the center of the plurality of contacts of the contact block in the inserting direction of the IC card, and swingingly around a second axis line which passes the center of the plurality of contacts of the contact block in the lateral direction of the IC card; and
an elastic member (94) which abuts against the contact block at only one point and applies a force to press the plurality of contacts of the contact block on one surface side of the IC card,
wherein that a point of the place to which the pressing force is applied by the elastic member exists on an axis line which passes a cross point of the first axis line and the second axis line and extends vertically.
Further, in order to achieve the objects, according to the present invention, there is provided
(2) the IC card processor as recited in (1), wherein the contact block changes its attitude according to the inclination of the IC card with a position to which the pressing force of the elastic member is applied as a supporting point of the swinging and is set to be movable in a separating direction from one surface side of the IC card by elastic deformation of the elastic member which received a force from one surface side of the IC card.
Further, in order to achieve the objects, according to the present invention, there is provided
(3) the IC card processor as recited in (2), wherein the supporting mechanism has a movable member (85) which receives the inserting force of the IC card at one end side and brings the other end side near the opposite surface side of the contact block, and the elastic member is provided between the other end side of the movable member and a position corresponding to a substantial center of the plurality of contacts of the opposite surface of the contact block.
Further, in order to achieve the objects, according to the present invention, there is provided
(4) the IC card processor as recited in (3), wherein the plurality of contacts of the contact block absorb the inserting force of the IC card by adding the elastic deformation amount of the elastic member, and have an elastic deformation amount sufficient enough to give an adequate pressing force with a predetermined attitude adjustment range at each contact point which is provided on one surface side of the IC card.
Further, in order to achieve the above describe objects, according to the present invention, there is provided
(5) the IC card processor as recited in (3), wherein the elastic member is a coil spring which is elastically provided between the other end side of the movable member and the position corresponding to a substantial center of the plurality of contacts of the opposite surface of the contact block.
Further, in order to achieve the objects, according to the present invention, there is provided
(6) the IC card processor as recited in (3), wherein the elastic member is a plate spring (104), one end side thereof being fixed to the movable member (85xe2x80x2) and the other end side thereof pressing against the top end of a projection which is provided upright at a substantially central position of the plurality of contacts of the contact block.
Further, in order to achieve the objects, according to the present invention, there is provided
(7) the IC card processor as recited in (3), wherein the movable member pushes the inserted IC card upward from the lower part to the contact block side to allow a plurality of contacts of the contact block to contact each contact point of the IC card, and the elastic member is a coil spring (104) which is elastically provided between a spring bracket (105) fixed to a substrate and a projection (72) provided in the contact block.
Further, in order to achieve the objects, according to the present invention, there is provided
(8) the IC card processor as recited in (3), wherein the movable member pushes the inserted IC card upward from the lower part to the contact block side and allows a plurality of contacts of the contact block to contact each contact point of the IC card, and the elastic member is a plate spring, one end side thereof being fixed to a substrate (37) and the other end side thereof pressing against the top end of a projection (72) which is provided upright at a substantially central position of the plurality of contacts of the contact block.
Further, in order to achieve the objects, according to the present invention, there is provided
(9) the IC card processor as recited in (1) further comprising:
a linear rail portion (96) extending from the lower part of one lateral side of the card slot in the inserting direction and supporting one lateral end side of the IC card inserted from the card slot;
a pair of lateral regulating portions (43, 55, 56) which regulates the lateral movement of the IC card inserted from the card slot; and
a stopper (53) which abuts against the top end of the IC card inserted from the card slot to stop the IC card at a predetermined position,
wherein, among the pair of lateral regulating portions, the one lateral regulating portion (43) positioned at the side opposite to the rail portion includes a first regulating portion (43) provided in the vicinity of the card slot and a second regulating portion (52) provided in the vicinity of the stopper,
among the pair of lateral regulating portions, a width between the other lateral regulating portion (55, 56) and the portion between the first regulating portion and the second regulating portion is sufficiently large with respect to the width of the IC card, and a space between the pair of lateral regulating portions is opened downward.
Further, in order to achieve the objects, according to the present invention, there is provided
(10) the IC card processor as recited in (9) further comprising a detection member which detects the insertion of the IC card within a positional range between the plurality of contacts and the stopper, and allows the giving/receiving of information to/from the IC card by moving the contact block to one surface side of the above described IC card inserted to the predetermined position and bringing the plurality of contacts into contact with the terminals of the IC card,
wherein the detection member detects the insertion of the IC card in a space from a rear position of the plurality of contacts to the second regulating portion of the other lateral regulating portion.
Further, in order to achieve the objects, according to the present invention, there is provided
(11) the IC card processor as recited in (1) further comprising:
a linear rail portion extending from the lower part of one lateral side of the card slot in the inserting direction, and supporting one lateral side end of the IC card inserted from the card slot;
a member for constituting an escaping portion defined on the rail portion, the member having a height from the upper surface of the rail portion larger than two times a thickness of the IC card;
a stopper for abutting against the top end of the IC card inserted from the card slot to stop the IC card at a predetermined position;
a supporting portion (97) provided in the vicinity of the stopper, the supporting portion supporting the under surface of the top end portion of the IC card stopped at the predetermined position by the upper surface; and
an upward regulating portion (52) provided in the vicinity of the contact block which regulates the upward movement of the IC card by its under surface, the top end portion of the under surface of the IC card being supported by the supporting portion,
wherein the distance between the upper surface of the supporting portion and the under surface of the upward regulating portion (52) is set to be more than a thickness of one piece of the IC card, and less than a thickness of two pieces of the IC card.
Further, in order to achieve the objects, according to the present invention, there is provided
(12) the IC card as recited in (11), wherein a space having a height from above the upper surface of the rail portion larger than a thickness of two pieces of the IC card and a width wider than the upper surface of the rail portion is formed on a portion opposite to the upper surface of the rail portion so that an escaping portion (44) is formed so as to enable the edge portion of the card body having a thickness of two piece portion of the IC card to pass through on the upper surface of the rail portion.